Macy's Lifts Outlook After Solid First Quarter

The stock showed a positive performance of 9.56% in the recent trading session at 11:13 a.m. EST. The company had a trading volume of 1,867,745 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,118,120.

At the same time, Macy'searnings per share, excluding special items, were reported at $0.48 during the quarter ended on May 5th, which outstripped market consensus ($0.37 per share). LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of Macy's by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Two months ago, a Credit Suisse report indicated that Macy's isn't closing stores fast enough, suggesting that the department store would have to close 100 more locations to get back to pre-recession levels of sales productivity.

Macy's said that sales were healthy at physical stores for all its main brands as well, which include Bloomingdale's and makeup and beauty chain Bluemercury in addition to Macy's.

"Consumer spending remains strong and we saw significant improvement in global tourism spending", said Chairman and Chief Executive Jeff Gennette on an earnings call with analysts.

Gennette said the winning formula for Macy's, Inc.is a healthy brick and mortar business, robust e-commerce and a great mobile experience.

"Our best customer is responding well to the improvements we've made to her experience in our stores, on.com and through the Macy's app".

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On the call, Gennette attributed some of the gains to a 10 percent uptick in global tourism spending, along with what he called "a very healthy inventory position", indicating that the retailer has made better merchandising decisions and relied less on discounting to sell through product.

Saunders said the first of these is the shift of the Friends and Family promotion to this period; previous year this fell into the second quarter. The firm had revenue of $5.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. Comparable sales on an owned basis were up 3.9 percent in the first quarter and up 4.2 percent on an owned plus licensed basis.

"This event is a big driver of sales and added 250 basis points to the comparable numbers". Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 67,515 shares in the company, valued at $1,984,265.85.

Parametrica Management Ltd acquired a new position in Macy's Inc.

On a call with investors to discuss the company's first quarter, CEO Jeff Gennette said the momentum picked up at the end of last year during the 2017 holiday season carried into the start of the new year, "in fact, exceeding our own expectations on most measures", he noted.

Meanwhile, net income attributable to shareholders soared nearly 200% to $139 million (or $0.45 per share) during the latest quarter. Net cash used by financing activities in the first quarter of 2018 was $99 million, contrast with $273 million a year ago.

On the corporate news front, Macy's revealed that it has come up with a new approach to handle its business in China. The company said it is ending a joint venture with China's Fung Retailing that began in 2015. Instead, Macy's will remain on TMall platform of Alibaba and focus its efforts there.